Hinesville sixth-graders are invited to participate in the Georgia Municipal Association’s “If I Were Mayor, I Would …” essay contest.
Essays may not be longer than 350 words. They can be typed or handwritten but must be legible and have the student’s name and school on them.
One winner will be chosen from each of the GMA’s 12 districts and will be selected by a panel of city officials. Each state winner will receive a $250 savings bond and other small prizes. Winners will be notified by the end of March and will be invited — along with their teachers, parents and mayors — to a luncheon in April in Atlanta.
The deadline for entries to the state is Friday, March 8. Send essays to: Georgia Municipal Association, Attention: Essay Contest. P.O. Box 105377 Atlanta, GA 30348.
Essays can be faxed to Amy Henderson at 404-577-6663, but originals should be mailed as well as sometimes faxed copies are not as legible.
Copies of the entries also must be submitted by mail or in person by 5 p.m. Friday, March 15, to the city of Hinesville public relations office at 115 E. M.L. King Jr. Drive.
Hinesville Mayor James Thomas will notify the first-, second- and third-place winners on April 1 and invite them to come meet him at city hall.
For more information, call 876-3564 or email publicrelations@cityofhinesville.org. Entry forms also can be found at www.cityofhinesville.org.
Participants should keep in mind what mayors can and cannot do. For example, mayors can:  
• work with the city council to decide where businesses should go in the city and where housing should go;
• apply for grants (money from the state or federal government) to improve parks, roads and sidewalks;
• work with the city council to decide how the city should spend its money;
• make laws, called ordinances, to stop people from littering or speeding, and
• recommend hiring city employees like police officers, firefighters and building inspectors.
Mayors can’t:
• build theme parks;
• make a law that parents can’t make kids eat vegetables;
• give everyone money, mansions or cars, or
• fix school lunches.